Spatio-Temporal Change Detection of Vegetation Cover in Kalbetta State Forest, Karnataka, India

Tropical forests are becoming increasingly fragmented by the widespread and rapid increase in anthropogenic activities affecting the vegetation cover. This is the scenario in almost all the tropical countries and India is no exception. The valuation, assessment and conservation of fragmented forests are critical from the point of Biodiversity conservation. In this context, a study was conducted to observe the vegetation changes over a period of time in Kalbetta state forest which is a fragmented forest patch. Geospatial techniques using multi-temporal satellite datasets are helpful in monitoring changes in the vegetation cover. The change detection of vegetation cover of the study area through RS and GIS technique using multi-temporal Landsat satellite datasets dating 1991, 2000 and 2014 was conducted. Results of the study reveal that there has been a significant positive change in the Vegetation cover in 2014 when compared to 1991. The open forest area (less than20 % canopy cover) has reduced by 10.95 %, moderately open forest (20-40 % canopy cover) has reduced by 19.54 % and contrastingly less dense forest (40-60 % canopy cover) has increased by 5.96 %, moderately dense forest (60-70 % canopy cover) has increased by 17.27 % and dense forest block (greater than70 % canopy cover) has increased by 7.25 % of the area. The results provide valuable evidence of change in vegetation cover which has helped in the assessment of the extent and direction of changes in the study area. The observations during the study revealed that these changes could be attributed to the management interventions and socio economic changes in the surrounding villages.